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Post subject: Blackstar anyone?
Posted: Sun Dec 01, 2013 12:18 pm
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I know that they have been mentioned here, just wondering if anyone has experience with any Blackstar amps? I have been eying these amps for awhile now, and I've really liked the sound of all of them so far, mostly hearing the GC employees playing them, the 1 watt and 5 watt combos, as well as the 20 watt and some higher wattage version, not sure if it was 40, 60 or 100 watt. One of my favorite professional guitarists that I know uses a Blackstar amp and has an incredible sound, a phenomenal player. I just picked up a HT Studio 20 head, playing through a 2x12 with V30s getting absolutely fantastic tones, great with single coils, but especially killer with hum-buckers. The amp can be fairly clean, leaning easily towards mild breakup on the clean channel, and up to over-the-top gain on the drive channel which is very touch sensitive, and everything in between, very versatile (ISF - Infinite Shape Feature). After just a couple of days at home, and one trip out of the house, I'm hooked. Time will tell about quality, but all indications are of a solid build. The story is that these amps are designed by former Marshall employees, and they are unlike anything else I've seen. On the smaller 1 watt and 5 watt amps, the preamp input is SS into a 12AX7 tube, with a transistor PI driving a dual triode 12BH7 output tube (push-pull), very interesting. I haven't seen the schematic for the 20 watt, but a similar sound leads me to believe that it might be the same type of circuit as the smaller versions, this one using two 12AX7 preamp and two EL34s for output, MIK. (note the Fender in the background, and under the Blackstar, so I'm not totally out of line here :lol: )

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Edit:
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Last edited by shimmilou on Tue Feb 18, 2014 7:43 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Post subject: Re: Blackstar anyone?
Posted: Tue Dec 03, 2013 7:29 am
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Hi Lou, my brother has a Club 40. Nice sounding amp. Check out the Blackstar forum. Seems a little like Egnaters. Bad customer service and some QA problems. Looks like they are distributed by Korg in the States and Korg seems to have a problem with customer service. My brothers amp has too many bells and whistles for my taste, but it still sounds nice. I don't do metal or high gain stuff. I just find the simpler the amp, the more reliable the amp period. Did you buy one?

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Post subject: Re: Blackstar anyone?
Posted: Tue Dec 03, 2013 7:43 am
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Wow, after delving deeper into the Blackstar forum, looks like I won't be trading my Egnater in on one. :shock:
My brother has had no problems, but he doesn't gig and the amp never leaves his music/recording room.

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Post subject: Re: Blackstar anyone?
Posted: Tue Dec 03, 2013 2:31 pm
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Yeah, I joined the forum and have been checking it out. I bought the HT Studio 20, and like you, prefer the simplicity. So far the amp has been fantastic. For the clean channel, think of a DR cranked tone, really smooth breakup. Yes, the amp can get some killer metal sounds on the drive channel, probably not for everyone, and quite different from any other amp that I've owned, which is one of the reasons why I bought it.......that, and I seem to remember someone here recommending to checkout Blackstar amps......of course that someone also recommended Egnater, and we all know that didn't turn out well for me. :o Seriously though, I really like Blackstar, .......time will tell. I have no problem with an honest review, if the amp is great, I'll say so, and if it craps out I'll be sure to complain even more vociferously. :)

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Post subject: Re: Blackstar anyone?
Posted: Tue Dec 03, 2013 2:36 pm
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Good luck with it Lou!

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Post subject: Re: Blackstar anyone?
Posted: Tue Dec 03, 2013 5:15 pm
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Nice looking unit. I have also heard good things. Enjoy! :wink:


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Post subject: Re: Blackstar anyone?
Posted: Wed Dec 04, 2013 1:51 pm
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I own the same HT20 Head. Decent amp, but the gain on the drive channel is way beyond what I'd use for my style music. Changed out the V1 to a 12AY7 which helped me get closer to where I wanted to be, but still considerable gain. That's not Blackstar's fault, but mine for not checking it out more thoroughly before purchase. If you really crank the volume, the gain channel smooths out, but then it's louder than I want.

I did have one problem with it shortly after purchase....intermittent volume loss. It was fixed quickly under warranty with no recurrences. It was a bad solder joint on one of the mounted components.

I rarely use it any more because I have other amps I prefer and tried to sell it, but no takers....so it sits idle. I keep returning to Fender!

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Post subject: Re: Blackstar anyone?
Posted: Wed Dec 04, 2013 2:14 pm
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Yes, nothing like a great Fender sound. :D

With plenty of control for the amount of gain, you can dial in some fairly mild breakup on the drive channel using the volume, gain, master, ISF and tone controls. How do you like the "clean" channel? I find the clean channel sound much like a Fender as far as breakup, very smooth, but I am enjoying the drive so much, having a blast playing! The reverb is surprisingly nice for digital, and not too much even when turned up, very lush.

Not knowing the circuit in this amp, it wouldn't surprise me to find that the two preamp tubes each affect one channel more than the other. Maybe it's V1 more for the clean channel and V2 more for the drive. :?: Have you tried swapping V2 to check the affect on the drive channel? I will probably try rolling tubes some day, but I'm happy with the sound for now. I haven't checked which type of preamp tubes mine has, they sit so low in the chassis that only the top sticks out, the output tubes are TAD. 8)

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Post subject: Re: Blackstar anyone?
Posted: Wed Dec 04, 2013 4:03 pm
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I do like the clean channel and the reverb is quite nice, too. I wasn't able to get mild breakup on the drive channel. It's been a couple years since I played with the preamp tubes and I can't remember for sure if I tried swapping V2. I'll have to 'dust it off' and try that again.

I'm thinking that I read somewhere that the clean channel had solid state preamp and that only the drive channel had preamp tubes....is that likely? A lot of people were slamming the Blackstar HT series because of the use of solid state components rather than being an "all tube" amp. Personally, I only care about tone.

You've piqued my interest. I'll have to give it some attention again!

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Post subject: Re: Blackstar anyone?
Posted: Wed Dec 04, 2013 5:20 pm
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IM4Tone wrote:
...I'm thinking that I read somewhere that the clean channel had solid state preamp and that only the drive channel had preamp tubes....is that likely?...


I'm not sure about the circuit, I've been corresponding with the factory to try and get some more details. They said that they wouldn't give me a copy of the schematics, and I can't find any on the net for this amp, but I've asked some more questions about the circuit. For the Blackstar HT-5, the preamp is SS into tube, looks like both channels, then more SS with SS PI driving the output tube. For other Blackstar amps that I've seen, like the Artisan series, they are all tube, no SS at all that I could see, even has a tube rectifier. My guess is that for the HT Studio 20, the tubes are part of the clean channel and the drive channel, but just a guess based on the tone.

IM4Tone wrote:
...Personally, I only care about tone...


Absolutely! I tried to find a good reason not to get this amp, being put off by the smaller versions being made in China, I'll have to double check that as this one is made in Korea, but the fact remains that it has great tone. I don't mind SS preamp hybrid amps, as long as the output is tube and it sounds good.

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Post subject: Re: Blackstar anyone?
Posted: Wed Dec 04, 2013 5:47 pm
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I use to frequent the Blackstar forum when I first got the amp and there was lots of discussion about how secretive B* was/is about schematics. You'd think they were developing some major breakthrough in weaponry that would make a country the supreme power worldwide!!! And to think, Fender makes theirs available for download to everyone.

I remember now one other characteristic about the drive channel that I didn't care for...excessive compression. I would set the volumes of both channels equal and then use a boost for soloing. On the drive channel, the volume was difficult to boost as it just compressed rather than increase in volume proportionately to the clean channel. I then used an EQ pedal in-the-loop (setting the volume slider up) rather than in the signal chain and that worked just fine, but you had the inconvenience of two extra cables.

I moved on, but with this discussion, I am going to do some tube swapping in the next week or so to see if I missed something. Hope that you thoroughly enjoy yours and I'd be interested when/if you find out anything more on its architecture.

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Post subject: Re: Blackstar anyone?
Posted: Wed Dec 04, 2013 6:48 pm
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Shimmy...CAFeathers has one if I remember right, and seemsChet has had one for over a year or so now. If he doesn't wander in, send him a PM and see what he has to say about them. Just a thought.

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Post subject: Re: Blackstar anyone?
Posted: Wed Dec 04, 2013 10:37 pm
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Thanks T2, will do. Now that you mention it, haven't seen many posts from Chet lately. Maybe if I say the magic word.....BJr....it's like a bat signal, and I always enjoy seeing that amp. :)

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Post subject: Re: Blackstar anyone?
Posted: Tue Dec 10, 2013 11:14 pm
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OK, after a little tube swapping I found out some interesting things. For the purposes of this post, I'll call the tube closest to the input jack, the one farthest away looking in the back of the amp, V1, and the tube closest when looking in the back of the amp V2. I'm not sure how B* labels the tubes.

I pulled V2, the one closest when looking in the back of the amp, and it is indeed only for the clean channel. With V2 removed, there was no sound from the amp on the clean channel, but there was still sound when switching to the drive channel, and the drive channel sounds normal, possibly a touch beefier, but at least normal.

I then replaced V2 and pulled V1, and now had no sound on the drive channel, but still had sound on the clean channel. However, the clean channel now had this buzzing noise, so I didn't listen for long before replacing V1, but as far as I could tell the sound was otherwise normal.

This means, almost certainly, that this amp uses transistors for the PI, just like the smaller HT-5, otherwise the amp wouldn't work with either of the tubes pulled if one tube was used for the PI.

So, what I call V2 is for the clean channel, and what I call V1 is for the drive channel.

I hope that this helps anyone wanting to do some tube swapping. 8)

Oh, and both V1 and V2 are EH 12AX7. These are not bad at all, but I swapped V2 for a Preferred Series 7025 and got a little bit fuller sound on the clean channel, not a dramatic change, still sounds great. I might try some other tubes sometime, maybe even put the EH back in V2 at some point. So many tubes to try......

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Post subject: Re: Blackstar anyone?
Posted: Tue Dec 10, 2013 11:51 pm
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